Disrupting Escalation Of Terror In Russia To Prevent - Belfer Center ...

Qaida cells, whose leaders strive for catastrophic terrorism—can operate without the awareness
of Russian law enforcement agencies.
The White Brotherhood leadership is known to have recruited members in Russia’s
depressed defense industry towns, and we can only guess what suicidal missions their leaders
may assign to their followers if they are cornered in the current crackdown on “non-traditional”
religious groups, which has outlawed even Jehovah’s Witnesses in Moscow. 60 One sect, named
“Mother of God Center,” even had officers of the elite Special Forces Division, which is
stationed in the Moscow region, serving as their “priests” to “baptize” their soldiers. This
Russian-based sect also maintains a Praetorian Guard manned with physically fit men known as
the “Legion of the Mother of God.” 61
Just as police and secret services in Japan failed to identify what Aum’s real intentions
were until the 1995 subway attack, it may prove difficult for Russian law enforcement and
security agencies to discern whether the White Brotherhood and other messianic cults harbor
similar terrorism ambitions until they actually strike. It may also prove extremely difficult to
locate and neutralize all branches of a messianic terrorist organization even after it strikes, as is
the case with al-Qaida cells in North America. 62
Of course, one can accept the rather common notion that leaders of some such sects are
rational and are positioning themselves as messiahs in order to achieve power through their
60 In June 2004, the Moscow City Court prohibited Jehovah’s Witnesses from engaging in religious activity under a
provision that allows courts to ban religious groups considered to incite hatred or intolerant behavior. “City Court
Backs Ban of Jehovah’s Witnesses,” Associated Press, June 17, 2004.
The first major step to curb “non-traditional” religious groups was made in 1997 when then President Boris
Yeltsin signed into law a controversial bill on religion that critics said placed strict restrictions on freedom of
worship in Russia. The law granted special status to Russia’s conservative Orthodox Church. It also said faiths not
registered with the state since 1982, when the Communist regime was in control, must register annually for fifteen
years before they can proselytize, publish, or invite missionaries to Russia without restrictions. Dmitry Zaks, “Final
Religion Bill Signed by Yeltsin,” Moscow Times, September 27, 1997.
61 Alexander Dvorkin, “Totalitarnye Sekty. Sektovedenie,” Nizhni Novogrod, Russia, 2003.
62 Simon Saradzhyan, “Russia: Grasping Reality of Nuclear Terror,” ISP Discussion Paper, Discussion Paper 2003-
02, Cambridge, MA: Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, March 2003.
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